China's 2010 military spending 1.5 times larger than defense budget+

TOKYO, July 8 Kyodo -
China's military spending will total 788.0 billion yuan, or 10.2 trillion yen,
in 2010, about 1.5 times higher than the country's 2010 defense budget unveiled
in March, Chinese military sources said Thursday.
Citing an internal report of the People's Liberation Army, the sources said
China's military expenditures are expected to double to 1.41 trillion yuan in
2020 and triple to 2.30 trillion yuan in 2030, bolstering the view that the
country's military expansion is likely to continue.
The report forecasts the spending will further increase to about 5 trillion
yuan in 2050, according to the sources.
China is believed to be allocating a growing share of military expenditures to
boosting its navy and air force, such as building aircraft carriers in an
effort to gain a leading military position in Asia.
China's defense budget does not include outlays for research and development of
weapons, leading other countries to suspect that actual spending is larger than
the announced level.
The PLA report, which features the military's logistic operation, was compiled
last fall by a senior PLA officer who teaches at the PLA National Defense
University.
The forecast is based on the assumption that China's gross domestic product
will grow at 6 percent a year on average from 2010 to 2020, 5 percent from 2021
to 2030 and around 4 percent from 2031 to 2050.
China's GDP is expected to grow more than 9 percent in 2010, higher than the
assumed rate, so military spending this year could become higher than the
forecast.
The sources quoted the report as saying that China's military expenditures
account for about 2.5 percent of GDP.
But official data show that the country's defense spending has accounted for
1.4 percent of GDP in recent years.
The gap shows the PLA appears to have a concept of ''military spending,'' which
is different from -- and larger than -- a defense budget.
The sources said military spending represents the defense budget plus
military-related outlays for the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology and other organs under the State Council.
Some countries and territories have questioned that the defense budget alone
may have been insufficient for China to develop its latest jet fighter models
and deploy nuclear-powered submarines.
But the existence of military spending can explain China's recent moves to
build carriers, military experts said.
One expert estimates China's military spending will reach $740 billion in 2050
based on the current exchange rate, which, if the yuan strengthens against the
dollar, may exceed the U.S. level and become the world's largest.
A Chinese military source said Beijing does not seek to become a global
military power, but ''a major regional power that influences the world.''
''It is early for China to bear responsibility for the world'' in terms
ensuring global security, the source said. ''Such a move would diffuse China's
strategic resources.''
The source said it is vital for China to ''develop its sea power'' in a bid to
become a major regional power, suggesting that Beijing plans to increase
spending on its navy and air force to expand their presence in the East China
Sea and South China Sea, gateways to the Pacific.
On March 4, Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for China's parliament, the National
People's Congress, said the country's defense spending would total 532.1
billion yuan in the fiscal 2010 budget, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier.
But the U.S. State Department suspects that China's defense spending would be
twice to three times larger than the announced amount.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated China's defense
expenditures in 2009 were about 1.45 times larger than the announced level.
==Kyodo
2010-07-09 00:09:13